Users of suitcases have long used tags, travel stickers, tape and other means to customize or otherwise distinguish their suitcases from others which are otherwise identical or similar. Most such identification indicia comprise the name and address of the traveler written in small letters and discretely displayed or hidden from view by the provided identification system. An example of such system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 281436, Des. 281706, and 4,828,081, assigned to the assignee of the subject invention. These systems employ a transparent window for retaining a name and address card, either attached to the frame of the luggage or contained in a discrete self-retracting pull-out envelope. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 303076, also issued to the assignee, shows a card-retaining window built into the handle structure used to support one end of the luggage piece while rolling the case on wheels provided at its opposite end. Such means of identification have been fairly successful, although such systems are not ideal for helping the user select user's case from a rapidly moving luggage belt or carousel in an airplane terminal.
Accordingly, it is an object of the subject invention to provide a clearly obvious, at least to the owner of a suitcase, identification system for distinguishing that suitcase from the same or similar suitcases. It is another object of the invention to provide a system for identifying a suitcase which does not result in marring, such as by adhesive labels or stickers, the shells of the suitcase.